26 co-founder Tom Lynham interviews the writer and literary critic Blake Morrison about his role in the 2010 FREE THE WORD Festival. I met up with Blake in the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank, which has been such... Continue reading

Claire Falcon reviews Free the Word meets Beirut 39 You know what it’s like. In a flush of enthusiasm, you agree to something, and then suddenly it comes round and you find yourself in the middle of a busy week... Continue reading

John Simmons looks back at 26:50, Free The Word - and the need for stamina Quite a week. Ran marathon in Paris on Sunday. Hobbled around Paris Monday, home Tuesday. Workshop at The Writer on Wednesday, then reception for International... Continue reading

Rowenna Forbes reflects on her 26:50 postHere's a little more detail about the writer I was paired with at random, and how I chose my particular 50 words. Firstly, the form. I wanted to use the restriction of 50 words... Continue reading

Rishi Dastidar on the opening event of Free The Word 2010 So, to the Purcell Room, for a robust conversation between Margaret Busby, James Kelman and Olive Senior (chaired by Maya Jaggi) about the battle - and I think it's... Continue reading

Nick Asbury on the background to his 26:50 contribution Dawit Isaak is an Eritrean-born Swedish citizen, arrested in 2001 for his work as a reporter on Eritrea's first independent newspaper. I found it hard to track down Dawit's own writings,... Continue reading

Until the start of Free The Word 2010. Hopefully we'll see lots of you tomorrow night at The Ex-Empire Strikes Back at the Purcell Room. Full programme for the next few days available here. Continue reading

Sue Evans on her 26:50 assignment to write about Angel Cuadra The 50 words obviously need to stand on their own merit; however, for background my poem's format is loosely based on a 'glosa', a Spanish poetic tradition used by... Continue reading

Elise Valmorbida on 26:50 so far What a rich collaboration this is: International PEN and 26. Every day I read fifty new words written in freedom by a 26 writer here and now. We’ve each been inspired by the life... Continue reading

Angus Grundy on the formal challenge of fifty words. I was quick to sign up for the 26:50 project. Then immediately had reservations. Rob Williams wrote about not wanting to be flippant. I was worried about the alternative. Wasn’t it... Continue reading

Rob Williams blogs about his 26:50 piece on Sihem Bensedrine I agonised over my fifty words on Sihem Bensedrine. But probably not in the same way as many of the writers in this project. That is, not in the writing... Continue reading

Jim Davies on his 26:50 piece about the Iranian writer Shahrnush Parsipur My subject was the Iranian writer Shahrnush Parsipur, the year 1974. That’s when her first novel 'The Dog and the Long Winter' came out, and when she first... Continue reading

Tom Lynham reflects on trying to find a hook to hang his 50 words on. I started the 26:50 ball rolling with the Albanian writer Musine Kokalari. I was nine years old in 1960. My parents’ idea of a Sunday... Continue reading

John Simmons asks (and answers) about his own 50 words for 26:50 My fifty words in the 26:50 project appeared on 4th March. Fifty words on the Indonesian writer Mochtar Lubis. Strangely exciting to see the words appear and be... Continue reading

One of the interesting things that's starting to emerge from the 50 word pieces we're publishing about writers under threat of incarceration, torture or death, are the thought processes the 26 writers are going through in composing their responses to... Continue reading